Casting Marilyn Monroe

My Week With Marilyn sees Michelle Williams return to the big screen as she takes on the role of the ultimate icon... Marilyn Monroe.

And director Simon Curtis says that there was only ever one actress who he had in mind to take on this role.

There was only one actress who Curtis considered for the iconic role of Marilyn, and that was Oscar nominee Michelle Williams. 'I’ve always admired Michelle's work and absolutely consider her to be one of the finest actresses of her generation,' says Curtis.

'Her performances in Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine were especially brilliant, and she’s right at the age of our Marilyn in 1956. I was thrilled when it emerged that Michelle was interested in the part.

'She’s an incredibly hard worker and researcher and she is incredibly brave to take on such an iconic role.'

Williams particularly appreciated the fresh angle into Marilyn’s life afforded by Clark’s memoirs. 'For Michelle it was key that the story wasn’t about the whole of Marilyn’s life,' says Curtis. 'It’s just one month, which gave it a natural focus.'

The American actress admits that she was a little apprehensive about filling the role. 'Gosh, really I was. How could you not be?' Williams concedes. 'I kind of ignored it, though, and tried to make her in my own mind not a famous person, just a person for the shoot - more like a friend than an icon.'

For Williams, the opportunity to play Monroe was also personally significant. 'I grew up with a poster of her in my bedroom,' Williams reveals.

'I had always been more interested in the private Marilyn, though, and the unguarded Marilyn - the Marilyn before ‘Marilyn.’ Even as a young girl my primary connection wasn’t with this larger-than-life personality, but with what was going on underneath.'

While Williams is ostensibly portraying only one woman on screen, she manages to capture three distinct 'roles' played by the famed actress: Marilyn Monroe, the international movie star; the vulnerable and insecure woman baptised and raised as Norma Jeane Baker; and Elsie, the naïve titular showgirl in Olivier’s film.

In order to give audiences an authentic glimpse of Monroe’s star power, Curtis shot two musical numbers that serve as bookends to the principal story. He explains, 'This film is an intimate window into Marilyn Monroe’s vulnerable, secret side.

'But we also wanted to make sure we showed her in her element as a star, as a performer living her dream. It’s the contrast between these two sides, which are so opposed, that makes her so compelling.'

Rather than resort to body doubles and lip-synching, Williams eagerly accepted the challenge of performing all of her own singing and dancing in the film. 'Michelle can sing and dance beautifully,' reports Curtis. 'She jumped full steam ahead into the two numbers.'

In order to facilitate those sequences, Curtis, Parfitt and Weinstein brought together an accomplished team of Broadway stalwarts that included Tony Award-nominated choreographer Kathleen Marshall (Wonderful Town, Anything Goes) choreographer Denise Faye (Nine, Chicago), and singing coach David Krane. Krane also arranged the chosen Monroe songs, which include a 'When Love Goes Wrong/Heat Wave' medley and 'That Old Black Magic.' 

Even though her knowledge of Monroe’s life was already extensive, Williams pored over every research source she could find in preparation for the role. She studied movement in order to recreate Monroe’s unique physicality, from her walk to her well-documented descent from the airplane at London airport. 

Williams also worked extensively with Faye, Marshall and Krane to master Monroe’s singing and dance styles. 'The most useful thing was to watch the movies over and over again, to really make it like a screen that played on my brain,' says Williams.

'I’m very fond of The Prince And The Showgirl still, even though I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen it.'  Aiding in Williams’ remarkable physical transformation was hair and make-up designer Jenny Shircore, who won an Academy Award for her work on Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth.

Monroe’s desire to produce her own movies, and to come to England to work with the great Olivier, was rooted in her desire to be taken seriously as an actress.

The decision was a bold career move that found Monroe taking on the role that Olivier’s esteemed wife and acting partner, Vivien Leigh, had originated in the stage version of The Prince And The Showgirl.

Monroe’s dedication to Method acting was another bid for respect, though it placed her in stark contrast to the stagey performances favored by the Brits on screen. 

'What Marilyn was anticipating happening and what actually wound up happening were two very different things and they created discord and unhappiness for her in England,' explains Williams.

'She was expecting to go to London and make a movie with the most esteemed actor of the time and hoped it would bring her the respect that she deserved and craved. When she arrived she felt she was being mistreated and laughed at.

'Olivier sneered at her and didn’t treat her with the kind of attention that she was hoping for. She felt that she needed allies and she found one in Colin.'

Williams is still struck by Monroe’s talent and how modern her performances feel to this day. 'She yearned to play dramatic roles but I rather take to her comedy and in The Prince And The Showgirl she wipes the screen with the rest of the cast,' avows Williams.

'They’re all very stiff, mannered, archaic and unapproachable, while if she were making that movie today there’s nothing about that performance that’s gone out of fashion or faded. She is very real and very in the moment and so beautiful.'

My Week With Marilyn is out now.

My Week With Marilyn sees Michelle Williams return to the big screen as she takes on the role of the ultimate icon... Marilyn Monroe.

And director Simon Curtis says that there was only ever one actress who he had in mind to take on this role.

There was only one actress who Curtis considered for the iconic role of Marilyn, and that was Oscar nominee Michelle Williams. 'I’ve always admired Michelle's work and absolutely consider her to be one of the finest actresses of her generation,' says Curtis.

'Her performances in Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine were especially brilliant, and she’s right at the age of our Marilyn in 1956. I was thrilled when it emerged that Michelle was interested in the part.

'She’s an incredibly hard worker and researcher and she is incredibly brave to take on such an iconic role.'

Williams particularly appreciated the fresh angle into Marilyn’s life afforded by Clark’s memoirs. 'For Michelle it was key that the story wasn’t about the whole of Marilyn’s life,' says Curtis. 'It’s just one month, which gave it a natural focus.'

The American actress admits that she was a little apprehensive about filling the role. 'Gosh, really I was. How could you not be?' Williams concedes. 'I kind of ignored it, though, and tried to make her in my own mind not a famous person, just a person for the shoot - more like a friend than an icon.'

For Williams, the opportunity to play Monroe was also personally significant. 'I grew up with a poster of her in my bedroom,' Williams reveals.

'I had always been more interested in the private Marilyn, though, and the unguarded Marilyn - the Marilyn before ‘Marilyn.’ Even as a young girl my primary connection wasn’t with this larger-than-life personality, but with what was going on underneath.'

While Williams is ostensibly portraying only one woman on screen, she manages to capture three distinct 'roles' played by the famed actress: Marilyn Monroe, the international movie star; the vulnerable and insecure woman baptised and raised as Norma Jeane Baker; and Elsie, the naïve titular showgirl in Olivier’s film.

In order to give audiences an authentic glimpse of Monroe’s star power, Curtis shot two musical numbers that serve as bookends to the principal story. He explains, 'This film is an intimate window into Marilyn Monroe’s vulnerable, secret side.

'But we also wanted to make sure we showed her in her element as a star, as a performer living her dream. It’s the contrast between these two sides, which are so opposed, that makes her so compelling.'

Rather than resort to body doubles and lip-synching, Williams eagerly accepted the challenge of performing all of her own singing and dancing in the film. 'Michelle can sing and dance beautifully,' reports Curtis. 'She jumped full steam ahead into the two numbers.'

In order to facilitate those sequences, Curtis, Parfitt and Weinstein brought together an accomplished team of Broadway stalwarts that included Tony Award-nominated choreographer Kathleen Marshall (Wonderful Town, Anything Goes) choreographer Denise Faye (Nine, Chicago), and singing coach David Krane. Krane also arranged the chosen Monroe songs, which include a 'When Love Goes Wrong/Heat Wave' medley and 'That Old Black Magic.' 

Even though her knowledge of Monroe’s life was already extensive, Williams pored over every research source she could find in preparation for the role. She studied movement in order to recreate Monroe’s unique physicality, from her walk to her well-documented descent from the airplane at London airport. 

Williams also worked extensively with Faye, Marshall and Krane to master Monroe’s singing and dance styles. 'The most useful thing was to watch the movies over and over again, to really make it like a screen that played on my brain,' says Williams.

'I’m very fond of The Prince And The Showgirl still, even though I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen it.'  Aiding in Williams’ remarkable physical transformation was hair and make-up designer Jenny Shircore, who won an Academy Award for her work on Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth.

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